


Help Me (He's Cute)

by kitkatt0430



Series: Barry Allen Week 2019 [2]
Category: The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Power Swap, Alternate Universe - Role Reversal, Background Relationships, Barry works at STAR Labs, Cisco is a CSI, Cisco is the Flash, M/M, baweek2019
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-06
Updated: 2019-05-06
Packaged: 2020-02-09 15:40:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,302
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18641083
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kitkatt0430/pseuds/kitkatt0430
Summary: Cisco is a CSI who gets struck by lightning and gains super speed.  Barry's a mechanical engineer who has a major crush.  Everyone else would just like them to act on the UST already.Barry Allen Week - May 6 - Role Reversal





	Help Me (He's Cute)

_**Part 1 - Before the Accelerator** _

"So," Iris said, breezing into Cisco's lab, "I found the perfect date for you."

"Really?"  Cisco perked up.  He'd met Iris on his first day of work at the CCPD.  He'd flirted with her, mostly joking since he was pretty sure she was way out of his league and also not interested.  Then he'd found out she was Detective Joe West's daughter and been both extremely relieved he wasn't there to kill Cisco for flirting with his daughter and also extremely paranoid that Joe West was going to kill Cisco for flirting with his daughter.

Iris had, for reasons Cisco had yet to discern, decided that Cisco was going to be her new BFF.  Which was cool.  Very cool.  They clicked really well as friends.

"Barry Allen.  He's a friend of mine from High School.  He works at STAR Labs now."  Iris grinned smugly as Cisco turned to stare all wide-eyed at her.

"STAR Labs?  The STAR Labs??"

Iris rolled her eyes.  "No, the other STAR Labs.  Yes, Cisco.  Barry works at 'the' STAR Labs."

Cisco could practically hear the sarcasm quotes.  "So, uh, what's his job there?"

"He's a mechanical engineer," Iris told him.  "Barry considered forensics as his major for a while in high school, but went into mechanical engineering like his mom.  I don't know why it never occurred to me to set you two up before, but I was having lunch with him the other day and just... bam!  I just knew I had to get you two to meet."  She handed over her phone where she'd pulled up a picture on facebook.  "Here, take a look."

"Oh, wow, he's cute," Cisco breathed out, sitting down and clutching Iris' phone.  Barry Allen had the very definition of a winning smile.  "I don't know, Iris, I have terrible luck on dates."

"Just be yourself.  He'll be beside himself with how adorable you are."  Iris smirked, adding, "I already got him to agree to a coffee date with you.  He wanted to know if your hair was as soft as your facebook photo makes it look."

"Softer," Cisco declared proudly, idly twirling some of the aforementioned hair.  "So he... he's not bothered by my long hair?  Doesn't think its girly or anything like that?"

"He thinks you look hot.  So, coffee at Jitters, this Saturday at two pm.  Sound good?"

"It's a date," Cisco confirmed handing back her phone.  Then he did a little dance because, "oh my god, I've got a date for Saturday.  You are, like, my best friend ever, Iris.  Seriously."

Iris just giggled and smirked proudly.

* * *

Barry grinned impishly as Caitlin and Dr. Wells finished up the press conference and joined him back inside.  "That went well."

"Indeed it did," Dr. Wells confirmed.  "Remind me, how did you get out of being part of that?"

"I won the chess game," Barry replied, outright smirking now, while Caitlin swatted his shoulder with an air of long-suffering amusement.

"Hell froze over," Wells retorted, rolling his eyes.  "Anyway, lets get this show on the road, shall we?  It's not every day we get to make history."

"I promised to wait for Iris," Barry said, tone apologetic.  "You okayed her joining us in the cortex, remember?"

"Ah, right, your journalist friend.  I'd forgotten."  Wells paused a beat, then said, "if she'd like an exclusive interview, I wouldn't mind."

"Oh, she'd probably love that.  Here she is," Barry opened the door to let Iris in past the crowd.  "Hey Iris," they hugged briefly and then he introduced her to Caitlin and Dr. Wells.

"Thank you so much for allowing me to be here to see the accelerator turn on in person," Iris said to Wells.  "Barry's been going on and on about how big of a deal this is and, well, I admit I've been pretty intrigued."

"It won't really look like much, I'm afraid.  I'll be pushing a button and then we'll all be watching the pipeline sensors while drinking champagne and patting ourselves on the back," Wells responded with a self-deprecating smile.  "But I wouldn't be opposed to answering whatever questions you might have for me about the accelerator."

As they headed to the cortex, Barry dropped back to walk with Caitlin.  "So, I've got a date this Saturday and I need your help so I don't make a complete idiot of myself."

"Oooh, who's the lucky lady.  Or are they a guy?"

"Um, guy."  Barry blushed.  "His name is Cisco Ramon.  It's a, uh, blind date actually.  Iris is setting us up; he's a friend of her's, a CSI who works with her dad at the CCPD."

"A blind date is actually how I met Ronnie," Caitlin told Barry.  "He was not my date.  But he was happy to let me pretend he was when the guy who was supposed to be my date turned out to be kind of creepy."

Barry frowned and gave her a quizzical look.  "How have I never heard this story from you two before?  More details please."

"What about advice for your date?"

"Ugh, decisions, decisions," Barry sighed.  "Advice first, story later."

"Wear your red shirt - the crimson one, not the burgundy one - it brings out your eyes.  Don't make that _Firefly_ joke you like so much.  I've seen the show; the joke is still not that funny."

Barry crossed his arms and pouted.  "Some people juggle ducks," he muttered petulantly.

"Most importantly, be yourself.  You want him to like you, not an act you have to put on."  Caitlin waved Ronnie over as they entered the cortex.  He kissed her cheek as he joined them.  "So, we've never told Barry the blind date story."

"What?  Oh that's a tragedy," Ronnie laughed and, together, he and Caitlin began to spin up a story involving an eHarmony blind date gone wrong, Caitlin begging a complete stranger (Ronnie) to pretend to be her boyfriend, and Ronnie bartering help cramming for finals in exchange for being a fake boyfriend for an hour.

Then the clock ticked over to the new hour, Dr. Wells called everyone to attention, and a digital button on a touchscreen was pushed.

But as soon as the champagne was uncorked, all hell broke loose.

* * *

_**Part 2 - After the Accelerator** _

There's music playing.

Cisco's eyes blink open slowly to the sound of Lady Gaga's _Poker Face_.  Not his favorite song, but one he'd recently added to his playlist on Iris' recommendation.  It was one that he sort of needed to be in the right mood for, though.  He wasn't really in the mood for it at the moment, though, and he had every intention of smacking the snooze button when he sits up, except...

This is not his bedroom.  This isn't his apartment or the uncomfortable couch he sometimes naps on at work.  This is...

"Holy crap, he's awake."  A very cute guy is staring at Cisco in shock.  "Caitlin!" the guy turns and shouts towards a glass walled office off to the side.  "Caitlin, he's awake!"

"Where am I?" Cisco asks, because this isn't a hospital but he's got an IV and, yes, that's a catheter.  Cisco wants that gone now, now, now. 

"STAR Labs.  You're in STAR Labs.  It's been... you've been in a coma, Cisco."

"A coma?"  Cisco tells himself that his didn't just go panicky and shrill, but it kind of did.  "Why am I in STAR Labs and not a hospital?  Who are you?"

"I'm Barry Allen," the cute guy - Barry, wasn't that the guy Iris wanted Cisco to meet for coffee on Saturday? - answers, "and as for why you're here and not in a hospital?  I think Caitlin - uh, Dr. Caitlin Snow - should probably answer that."

"Hi Cisco," Caitlin greets, "I'm Dr. Snow.  Barry, will you go fetch Dr. Wells?"  Once Barry disappears, she said, "how about I take out the IV and catheter while I explain why you're here?"

"Yes, that sounds good," Cisco agrees because he wants nothing to do with that catheter.  It does not belong there.

"What's the last thing you remember?" Caitlin asks, going for the IV first.

"I was at work.  I was supposed to be at the press conference you guys were giving, but there was some last minute evidence to process and I ended up just watching it on TV while I worked.  Um..." Cisco blinked, his memories getting fuzzier at this point.  "The thunderstorm the meteorologists had been predicting finally showed up and the skylight was leaking again.  They were supposed to have fixed that when the roof repairs were finished, but of course it got overlooked again," he griped.  He'd complained to Captain Singh enough times about how having a leaky skylight in a forensics lab put anything underneath the skylight - or near it - at risk for contamination.  "I was hoping if I gave it a good tug on the chain it'd seal better so I wouldn't have to start sticking trash bins underneath it again.  But I don't... nothing after that."  He was determinedly not looking as Dr. Snow removed the catheter.  It felt weird and gross and he was very glad she was so professional about it.

"You were struck by lightning."  She told him.  "Or, well, it struck the metal frame of the skylight, traveled down the chain, and since you were touching the chain at that time..."

Cisco blinks, remembering - or maybe just imagining - looking up through the skylight at the storm and thinking it was pretty.

"You were rushed to the hospital where you started seizing.  It was... no one was really sure what was happening with you, actually.  The seizures were unlike anything the doctors had ever seen.  At first they thought your heart was stopping, but eventually they realized it was actually beating so fast that their machines could barely detect it.  Your parents contacted Dr. Wells, who was reaching to everyone hurt because of the accelerator's failure, and eventually he had you and several others brought here to STAR Labs.  The others were released over time, however.  You're our last patient."

"How long..." and suddenly Cisco is afraid to finish the question.

"It's been nine months."  She says it gently, but there's really no good way to deliver that news.

"Nine months?"  Cisco parrots the words back because they just don't compute.  He's got work to do and he's supposed to have a date on Saturday and... tears are pricking at his eyes.

"I'm sorry," she tells him, rubbing his shoulder gently.  "I'm going to go grab you a water bottle, alright?"

He nods listlessly because... nine months of his life he's never getting back.

* * *

Barry slips into the workroom where Dr. Wells, Hartley, and Ronnie are buried in schematics for the accelerator.  They'd managed to prove, after the first month, that the accelerator had been sabotaged which had allowed STAR Labs to shrug off the civil suits that were thrown their way.  The last court case had been the week before.

Instead of paying out money in civil suits to the point of bankruptcy - once they managed to convince Dr. Wells that settling suits was as good as admitting guilt in the public's eyes even though it wasn't true (Iris has been a godsend for that) - STAR Labs had started up an outreach program, offering free medical care for the victims of the dark energy that had flooded the city that night.

Hartley had been their reluctant poster boy for that, due to his now enhanced hearing and the hearing aids he now had to use to manage his auditory sense.  The program included a support group and times when people could meet up with the remaining STAR Labs scientists to get help managing their new abilities.  Or suppressing their abilities in some cases, though suppressing powers was incredibly difficult and they'd really only managed it with Farooq Gibran whose electrical powers had nearly killed his friends when he'd developed his powers immediately after being hit by the dark energy that night.  He'd been another one of their coma patients, but he'd awakened once they'd managed to dampen his powers and, once he'd woken up, Hartley had a breakthrough on a total suppressant so that Farooq stopped needing to 'eat' electricity entirely.

But despite how busy they were trying to help the victims of that night, the remaining scientific employees were still trying to figure out just who was responsible for the sabotage.  Wells was pissed off; it was his dead wife's legacy that had been screwed over.  (Tess Wells nee Morgan had died of cancer some two years before Barry joined STAR Labs.  Despite never meeting her, she'd been a presence hanging over STAR Labs.  Not so much sad haunting, but more... inspirationally pushing them on to make her genius reality.) 

Ronnie had nearly died in the pipeline itself, having shut himself in to divert the power and energy up and out into the storm.  There were little sensor pods inside with thermal and radiation shielding, though Ronnie still had pale burn scars on his face and one arm from how badly he'd been injured anyway.  He'd come back to STAR Labs as soon as he was medically cleared by Caitlin, though, determined to see justice served for what had happened.  (Barry had broken down that day, sobbing because it was his fault.  He'd closed the door.  And Ronnie had held him, rocking his friend slowly, promising it wasn't Barry's fault.  Ronnie didn't blame him, would never blame him... it was still hard sometimes to look at Ronnie's scars and not feel guilt creeping up over him, though.)  Caitlin and Ronnie had postponed their wedding to account for Ronnie's recovery, wanting him to be able to enjoy their honeymoon to the fullest.  (The new date was a month away.  Barry already had his speech as best man planned, assuming he didn't re-write it a dozen times before he needed to say it.  Which was a distinct possibility.)

The thing was, they were no closer to figuring out who the saboteur was today than they had been nine months ago.  But every so often Hartley or Ronnie or Dr. Wells would get all fired up over the mystery again and then the three of them plus any combination Barry, Iris, and a handful of others in and out of STAR Labs, would spend a few days brainstorming over video chat to try and figure out who had tried to use STAR Labs to blow up the city.

"Hey, uh, Dr. Wells?" Barry said, getting the attention of the other three men in the room, "Cisco woke up."

Grabbing his crutches and sliding his hands through the cuffs, Wells slowly got up.  "Well, I'd like to go meet our sleeping friend, though I suppose I should go call his family first."  None of them were exactly thrilled with the Ramon family.  They... weren't exactly supportive of Cisco, or at least that was the impression everyone had gotten.  Hartley in particular had been unimpressed, comparing the Ramons to his own parents.  As for Cisco's brother Dante?  He was... clearly upset over his brother's current circumstances but also the first to be dismissive of Cisco's career path.

"I'll call Iris," Barry said, since Iris was better family to Cisco than his relatives were.  He headed out of the room and down the hall to a quiet room where he could more easily call Iris.  They didn't use the rooms much anymore and it made Barry a little sad.  It used to be they were always busy and if someone needed to make a private call they'd need to leave the labs to use a quiet room.  Now it was rare there was more than one or two of them in a lab at a time.

"Hey, Bar," Iris greeted when the call connected.  "What's up?"

"Cisco woke up," he told her.

"WHAT?"

"Cisco woke up.  You should head over to STAR Labs, I bet he'd like to see you.  Especially as Dr. Wells is calling Cisco's family."

"Oh, definitely.  I'll be there ASAP."  Iris hung up and Barry slowly headed back to the cortex, wanting to give Cisco plenty of privacy before springing the news that visitors were on their way.

When he got there, Caitlin was running through a reflex test with Cisco while Cisco was distracted by a tablet next to him, presumably catching up on the latest news... and possibly nine months of emails.  Barry knocked on the door frame.  "Can I come in?" he asked, more to Cisco than to Caitlin.

"Uh, yeah, that's..." Cisco shrugged.  Not a stellar invitation but good enough.

"So, um, Dr. Wells should be down soon.  He's calling your parents to let them know you woke up.  And I hope you don't mind, but I called Iris too."

Cisco perked up.  "Is she going to come here?"

Barry nodded, smiling.  "She'll probably give you a hug that constrict your ability to breathe when she sees you up and about."

"I... should probably not be wearing a hospital gown that bares my ass when she does that," Cisco observed, looking a little alarmed by his state of dress.

Caitlin snorted in amusement.  "We've got some clothes for you over here.  Well, two sets.  Something your parents brought and something Iris brought."

"I'll go with what Iris brought me," Cisco decided and Caitlin brought that out.

"Well, we can go outside and let you change in here, or I can show you where the bathrooms are and you can change in there," Barry said.

"Uh... actually I..." Cisco touched his hair and grimaced, "is there a locker room?  I could really use a shower."

"Yeah, I've got some stuff you can use for the shower, too," Barry promised.

"You're an angel," Cisco declared, promptly blushing.

Caitlin had produced a robe from somewhere at that point, which was handed to Cisco to hide his butt on the walk down the hall.  Then Barry led Cisco to the men's locker room and produced the shower supplies from his own locker.  "I'll be just outside, okay?  That way you don't get lost.  STAR Labs never felt this maze like before the incident, but its sort of a ghost town these days."

"What did happen?  What went wrong?"  Cisco asked, turning on one of the showers and letting the water heat up first.

"One of the stabilizers failed and the failsafes had been disabled.  Instead of falling back on the secondary system, the whole stabilization ring went down.  Someone looped the cameras the night before and... sabotaged us.  The official line is that terrorists linked to ISIS did it, but there's no actual evidence and no ones actually claimed responsibility.  It was just the mayor talking out of his ass again, trying to look good before the elections.  Which worked; he was re-elected in May with a landslide."

Cisco groaned.  "Yuck.  Everyone knows he's corrupt.  How do people keep falling for that crap?"

"He's a Republican and we're a predominantly red city," Barry responded dryly.

Cisco wrinkled his nose and huffed.  "Yeah, that'd do it.  I hate the two-party system," he muttered under his breath.

"You and me both," Barry agreed with a laugh.  "Anyway, like i said, I'll be right outside.  Take your time, okay?  You may not have suffered the normal muscle atrophy from a coma, but you've still spent the past nine months not moving.  So just... don't rush things."

* * *

Cisco reveled in the feeling of water cascading through his hair and down his skin.  He might feel like he'd passed out at work just the night before, but his subconscious clearly knew it had been nine months.  The shampoo and conditioner weren't Cisco's brand or preferred scent but he couldn't afford to be choosy and it was nice of Barry to let him use his stuff.  And... it was a nice scent, actually.

He massaged the shampoo into his hair first and then rinsed it out and repeated with the conditioner.  The steamy air took on a lavender mint smell and Cisco leaned against the wall for a long moment, eyes closed, just breathing in the smell.

Nine months.  He still couldn't wrap his mind around that number.  Babies were conceived and born in the length of time.  Which was a weird place for his brain to go, but there it was.  He'd missed Christmas and New Years and Easter and Dante's birthday and... his own birthday.  April 20th was already months behind him.  He was 25.  He was 25 and he'd missed it.

There was a seat in the shower and Cisco sat down.  He felt like a stranger in his own body, every movement a touch awkward, and... he had abs.  He'd never worked out enough for abs before; he had a fold-up exercise bike and some hand weights and wii-fit and been pretty comfortable with his level of physical fitness.  But now there was definition where there hadn't been before and it wasn't his.

The tears from earlier came back and Cisco started crying.

He wasn't sure how long he sat there with the shower washing away his tears, but it couldn't have been too long.  Barry didn't come in to see if he'd fallen and drowned or anything like that.

But the tears did stop and Cisco stood back up.  He snagged the body wash and finished washing up.  Then he turned off the water, dried off with the fluffy towel Barry'd loaned him, and wrapped it around his hair.  It was longer than he remembered it being; thank god his parents didn't chop it off while they had the chance.  He wondered if Iris fought them on that for him.  It was doubtful Dante would have.

Cisco got dressed slowly, pulling on his socks and shoes last.  Then he walked out into the hall where Barry was waiting.

"Thanks."

Barry beamed.  "No problem."

"So, uh, this room is called the cortex?" Cisco asked when they got back.  Caitlin had disappeared for the moment.  "Seems like an odd room to keep a coma patient in."

"Actually you got moved out here this morning while Caitlin ran inventory.  There's boxes all over her office, which is what got turned into the infirmary for you and two other coma patients we had.  The cortex sometimes gets used as an out-patient room though."  Barry grimaced slightly.  "There's been a lot of people with weird powers and who knows how many whose abilities simply haven't been activated yet.  Its a mess."

Cisco hopped back up on the medical bed.  "Sounds like it.  You know..." he trailed off sharply as Dr. Wells walked in, followed by his parents.

"Cisco," his mother said, voice tearful.

"Sorry I overslept," Cisco said and then could've kicked himself.  That was awful.  This was not the time to be making jokes.  But he hopped off the bed to go hug her and neither she nor his father rebuked him, so maybe it was all okay after all.

* * *

Cisco was a little lost that evening, not sure how he was getting home.  Last time he'd seen his car, it was parked in the CCPD parking lot.  Apparently Dante had been using it, which Cisco wasn't exactly happy about.  Dante was a shitty driver; Cisco was expecting there to be scratches and dents all over by the time he finally got his car back.

Iris to the rescue, though.  She offered to drive him home - actually she also offered to have Cisco stay with her for the night, but Cisco desperately wanted to go home - and so she bought him dinner from Big Belly Burger - something simple and bland probably less boring than Caitlin would be happy about, considering Cisco hadn't eaten anything solid in months.  But if Cisco's body hadn't atrophied (in fact, he had better muscle definition now than he had before the coma) then he was pretty certain his digestive track was doing just fine too.

They brought their dinner to Cisco's apartment, which was less dusty than expected.

"I've been swinging by once a month, making sure that the bathroom didn't get mildew-y or the layers of dust on stuff too thick," Iris told him.  "Your parents made sure the electricity and water and rent all got paid, though you might need to check with your landlord about renewing the lease because they were planning storing your stuff when the year was up."

"I'd actually re-upped in December for six months, so... they extended it once already," Cisco was a little surprised that they'd done that.  His parents hadn't been thrilled about him moving out to begin with.  "I should check the state of my bank account."  And his credit cards and... fuck.  There was a lot of stuff he needed to check on.  He needed to make a list.

"Cisco, sweetie, sit down."  Iris pushed him onto the couch, sat beside him, and hugged him.  "It's going to be okay.  Alright, Cisco?  It's going to be okay."

"I keep getting overwhelmed by everything," he admitted, shaking against her shoulder.  "It's too much.  I... I keep waiting to wake up."

"Oh, Cisco," Iris tightened her arms around him.  "Come back home with me.  Don't be alone tonight."

He nodded and sniffled.  "Okay."

"Dinner first, though.  Want me to put netflix on?  We'll need to use my account, though."

Cisco nodded again and straightened back up, reaching for the food.  "I'm starving and I want to watch something comforting."  He hummed thoughtfully and then said, "how about _The Mummy_?"

"DVDs then," Iris agreed, getting up to head over to his collection.

* * *

**_Part 3 - Powers_ **

Cisco groaned as he slumped into his chair in the onsite lab at the CCPD.  The CSI who'd taken his place while he'd been gone had completely reorganized the lab, putting everything in weird places and Cisco had spent his first week back having to put everything back the way he liked it while still making time to ease back into his actual job of analyzing evidence.  Thankfully Captain Singh had insisted he wait at least a week before going out to crime scenes himself, though it meant depending on off-site CSIs to do all the evidence collection for him.

"You know what would make you feel better?" Iris asked, waltzing into the room and hopping up on his desk.

"What?"

"Going out for drinks.  There's a new bar that Eddie and I were thinking of going to and I bet some of our friends from STAR Labs would like to join us... especially Barry, if he hears that you'll be there."

Cisco blushed.  "Iris, I'm not sure I'm ready for dating yet.  I still feel all out of place in my own life."

Iris nodded, "and I promise I won't push you two together or anything, but Cisco?  Barry think's you're cute.  You think he's cute.  Maybe a little flirting will make you feel better about things and I promise you, Barry's a gentlemen.  If all you want is flirting then that's as far as things will go.  But you haven't done anything fun since waking up.  After all the stress you've been under to get things back in order..."

"Alright, alright, twist my arm why don't you?"  Cisco rolled his eyes, swatting her arm lightly.  "It's not that I don't want to date him, I just... I don't want to burden him with all my issues.  I seem to have a lot more of them than usual lately."

"He wouldn't see it as being burdened..." Iris sighed when Cisco gave her a look.  "Right, shelving the match-maker instincts for now.  Though I still want you two to have that coffee date eventually."

"By the time I'm ready to start dating again, Barry'll probably be dating someone else already."

"Barry can be a little hopeless and making the first move?  Not his forte," Iris refuted.  "So, how much longer until you're done here?"

Cisco glanced at the clock on his computer screen.  "Twenty minutes and then freedom."

"I'll go give Barry a call and see who over at STAR Labs is up for joining us.  Then I'll grab Eddie and meet you up here; we can all go over to the bar together."

"Sounds good," Cisco smiled, looking forward to something for the first time since he'd woken up from the coma.

* * *

Barry blushed as Cisco's shoulder brushed his own since they all crammed into a large booth.  Even Hartley had come along, though he wasn't planning on staying long.

The second round of drinks was passed around and Barry took a long drink of his beer while listening with half an ear to Ronnie and Eddie discuss some sports game while Hartley told Iris about his cute new fireman boyfriend and Caitlin... seemed to be checking something on her phone.

"So, um, how'd your first week back at work go?" Barry asked Cisco.

"So much paperwork and reorganizing and, ugh," Cisco slumped a little.  "I don't remember work being this exhausting nine months ago."  He took a drink of his own beer and then frowned.  "Shit.  I don't think this is having any effect on me."

"The alcohol?" Barry asked.

Cisco nodded and reached over to tap Caitlin's hand.  "I don't think the alcohol's having any effect on me."

Caitlin frowned thoughtfully as she looked up.  "It's possible that you're metabolizing the alcohol faster than normal."

"We need shots," Barry declared.  "Lots of shots.  For science."

A slow smile came over Cisco's face.  "That... sounds like a good idea.  Lets bring on the scientific experimentation."

Iris giggled and slipped out one side of the booth.  "I'll go get some.  What kind of shots do you want?  Tequila? Sour Apple Drop?"

"Let's just do tequila," Cisco interrupted with a laugh before Iris could list too many.

"Awesome, anyone else want shots?"

Ronnie waved a hand and Barry did too, figuring 'why not'.  Hartley shook his head, "no, I should head out once i finish this drink.  Thanks, though."

Iris went to the bar and placed their order then rejoined them to wait for the shots to be brought out to the table.  It didn't take long and Cisco was presented with... quite a few.

Barry, Ronnie, and Iris did the first shot with Cisco, but he was on his own for the rest.  Cisco finished his drinks and then shook his head.

"Not even buzzed."  Cisco stared contemplatively at the last shot glass.  "I don't know if this is a good thing or not.  i mean... no more getting drunk at parties but at the same time... no more hangovers."

"No more hangovers is a win in my book," Hartley told him.  "Okay, I need out.  Barry, Cisco, do you too mind..."

Both of them slid out of the booth to let Hartley out.  Then they settled back into the booth with a little more room for everyone now.

Barry grinned and tapped his mostly empty beer glass against the last of Cisco's empty shot glasses.  "I agree with Hartley, no hangovers is a win."

Cisco smiled and Barry's stomach went all fluttery.  Why did Cisco have to be so unfairly pretty?

Blinking, Barry was relieved to realize he hadn't voiced that thought out loud.  But... if that was a worry already, maybe it was time for some water.

* * *

Cisco goes home and bitches to his empty apartment about not being able to drink socially anymore.  Perpetually the designated driver.  Though if he's being honest, at least with himself, it's not really that big of a loss and it's not like he can't drink.  There's just less of a point of drinking alcoholic beverages that taste awful now.  And both Hartley and Barry were right; no hangovers is a blessing.

He's going to turn into a beer snob.  Cisco can live with that.  It's just... another change to his life he hadn't seen coming.

Yawning and tired, Cisco rushed through his night time ablutions and then checked the time and... had he really done all of that in five minutes?

Shaking his head, Cisco figured he must have read the time wrong when he got in and went to bed.

But in the morning, Cisco broke his exercise bike pedals.  He wasn't entirely sure how he broke them, but he figured he could fix them later.  So, after much mental debate, he went on a short run around the nearby park instead.  Which was when Cisco realized he was moving so fast everyone else was standing still... which quite likely explained the bike.

Also his hair was now a wind blown mess.

An hour later, Cisco is meeting Caitlin and Ronnie at STAR Labs.  It's Saturday, their off day, but Caitlin was nice enough to agree to meet Cisco when he'd called her cell and told her something weird was going on with him but he couldn't explain over the phone.  He'd probably sounded freaked out... because he was freaked out.

Cisco demonstrated his speed, running from one side of the STAR Labs lobby to the other in a blink of an eye.

"Right, I'm going to call Barry and we're going to soup up a treadmill or something so we can clock your speed.  This is awesome," Ronnie declared, already pulling out his phone.

Caitlin nods in agreement.  "That's a good idea.   We'll want to hook you up to monitors so I can see what your vitals look like.  But this... I think this may explain the seizures you had during your coma.  Your body was adjusting to its new ability to move at speeds beyond normal human capabilities.  It's pretty cool, actually."

"Explains my speed healing too," Cisco allowed, feeling calmer and less freakish with Caitlin and Ronnie taking things so calmly.  "I can help with the treadmill too," he offered.  "Maybe get some ideas for fixing my stationary bike; I sort of killed the pedals this morning because I didn't realize I was moving at super speeds."

Ronnie laughed and nodded, "if you want a hand with that project, I'm game.  Though you'd enjoy Barry's company more," he teased with a wink.

Cisco was determined not to blush.  (He failed.)

* * *

The first time Barry saw Cisco use his speed, the meta turned towards Barry and grinned with such joy that Barry could not help but grin back.  And then giggle as Cisco realizes his hair was wind tousled and proceeded to grumble and pout over needing to brush it all out again.

Once the treadmill was ready to handle Cisco's, Barry, Ronnie, and Caitlin watched in awe at the speeds Cisco was reaching, his legs a literal blur of motion.  And then...

"Want to see how fast I can go backwards?"

As Cisco slammed into the packing popcorn filled boxes behind him, Barry had to slap a hand over his mouth to hold in a nervous giggle because... Cisco was exactly the same sort of dork Barry was, but prettier.

Ronnie helped Cisco up and then went with him to go find a spare STAR Labs sweater because Cisco's shirt had torn.  Once they were out of sight, Barry latched on to Caitlin's arm and gave her a desperate look.  "Help me," he said plaintively.

"What's wrong?"

"He's cute."  Barry's tone was as defeated as possible.

Caitlin laughed and rolled her eyes.  "You don't need my help, Barry.  Just ask him out already."

Barry whined and dropped his forehead against her shoulder.  "Why are you no help?"

"Iris is the matchmaker, sweetie, not me."

* * *

Cisco is too embarrassed to look at Barry when he comes back with the STAR Labs sweater on.  So much for showing off; he must've looked like an idiot.

Still... the super speed was really cool.  Caitlin upped his calorie intake again, though.  Barry and Ronnie were talking about specialized power bars, so Cisco decided not to freak out over his new dietary requirements yet.

He was brushing out his hair for the umpteenth time that day (or so it seemed to him, anyway) when Caitlin handed Cisco a hairband.

"Tie your hair up before you run or you'll just keep having tangling problems," she told him, looking wryly amused.

Sighing in defeat, Cisco accepted the hair accessory and did as told.  He'd never been much of a ponytail sort of guy, but he supposed he'd have to get used to it.  Maybe braid his hair more often... he did like braids, after all.  He glanced over at Barry and blushed as their eyes met and Barry smiled so very sweetly...

"Ugh, not even Ronnie and I were this sappy when we first met," Caitlin grumbled.  She poked Cisco in the shoulder.  "Barry will quietly pine after you forever if you don't do something about it," she added softly. 

"What?" Cisco squeaked.  Caitlin just gave him a look and then swanned off to her fiance.  Huffing in irritation, Cisco glanced back at Barry who was totally absorbed in what he was working on now.  The intense concentration was a good look on him and... and Iris would never let him live this down.

Getting up, Cisco headed over to stand beside Barry.  "So, um, you probably know this, but I'm the guy Iris wanted you to meet for a coffee date before the accelerator was sabotaged."

Barry looked up and nodded.  "Yeah.  Its... its too bad we never got to have that date," he offered, blushing hard.

"Yeah, well... we both had pretty good reasons not to make it, what with my coma and your work emergency so... how about we call that a rain check and finally have that coffee date?  Or maybe dinner?  Tonight?"

"Yes, um, yeah, dinner, that..."  Barry blushed a little brighter and took a shaky breath to steady himself.  "I'd love to have dinner with you."

**Author's Note:**

> Caitlin is totally a matchmaker, she just doesn't want to admit it.
> 
> Somewhere out there Eobard Thawne is trying to figure out how everything went so wrong and now Barry is a completely different sort of meta ('cause he definitely has Vibe powers here) while Gideon is cackling to herself for screwing with Eobard and generally ensuring Barry's happiness. She's a good AI daughter.


End file.
